Bernard King facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This page is about the former basketball player. For the current basketball player, see Bernard King (basketball, born 1981). For other uses, see Bernard King (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
Bernard King
Personal information
King with the Tennessee Volunteers c. 1976
Born	(1956-12-04) December 4, 1956 (age 68) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
High school	Fort Hamilton (Brooklyn, New York)
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
College	Tennessee (1974–1977)
NBA Draft	1977 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7th overall
Selected by the New York Nets
Pro career	1977–1993
Career history
1977–1979	New Jersey Nets
1979–1980	Utah Jazz
1980–1982	Golden State Warriors
1982–1987	New York Knicks
1987–1991	Washington Bullets
1993	New Jersey Nets

Career highlights and awards
4× NBA All-Star (1982, 1984, 1985, 1991) 2× All-NBA First Team (1984, 1985) All-NBA Second Team (1982) All-NBA Third Team (1991) NBA Comeback Player of the Year (1981) NBA All-Rookie Team (1978) NBA scoring champion (1985) Consensus first-team All-American (1977) Consensus second-team All-American (1976) Third-team All-American – NABC (1975) 3× SEC Player of the Year (1975–1977) No. 53 retired by Tennessee Volunteers

Career NBA statistics
Points	19,655 (22.5 ppg)
Rebounds	5,060 (5.8 rpg)
Assists	2,863 (3.3 apg)

Bernard King (born December 4, 1956) is a famous American former professional basketball player. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. King played for teams like the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Washington Bullets. He was chosen as an NBA All-Star four times and led the NBA in scoring during the 1984–85 season. Bernard King was honored by being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2013.

Early Life and College Basketball
NBA Career Highlights
NBA Career Statistics
- Regular season
- Playoffs
Awards and Recognition
Broadcasting Career
Acting Career
See also

Early Life and College Basketball

Bernard King was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 4, 1956. He learned and improved his basketball skills on the outdoor courts of Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. These parks were a special place for King. They allowed him to focus completely on basketball. This helped him learn discipline and pushed him to become a great player.

King went on to attend the University of Tennessee. There, he had a very successful college basketball career. His time playing in college helped him get ready for his future as a professional basketball player.

NBA Career Highlights

Bernard King was a powerful and exciting player. He was 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 205 pounds. He was known for his long arms and quick shot release. King was an amazing scorer. In the 1984–85 season, he led the entire NBA in scoring. He averaged an impressive 32.9 points per game that season.

Playing for the New Jersey Nets

After playing college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers, Bernard King was chosen by the New York Nets. He was the seventh player picked in the 1977 NBA draft. A few months later, the team moved to New Jersey and became the New Jersey Nets.

In his first season, 1977–78, King set a new record for the New Jersey Nets. He scored 1,909 points that season. This was an average of 24.2 points per game. Because of his great performance, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He also finished third in the voting for NBA Rookie of the Year.

Time with the Utah Jazz

King played for the Utah Jazz during the 1979–80 season. He played in 19 games for the team. During this time, he averaged 9.3 points per game.

Joining the Golden State Warriors

Before the 1980–81 season, the Jazz traded King to the Golden State Warriors. He played two years with the Warriors. In his first year, he averaged 21.9 points per game. He played alongside players like World B. Free. In his second year, he averaged 23.2 points per game. King was traded to the New York Knicks before the 1982–83 season.

Becoming a Star with the New York Knicks

On January 31, 1984, Bernard King made history. He became the first player since 1967 to score at least 50 points in two games in a row. First, he scored 50 points against the San Antonio Spurs. The very next night, he scored another 50 points against the Dallas Mavericks. This set a new scoring record for the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

The next season, on Christmas Day in 1984, King had an incredible game. He scored 60 points against the New Jersey Nets. He was only the tenth player in NBA history to score 60 or more points in a single game. King had 40 points by halftime. He finished the game with 19 shots made from the field and 22 free throws.

At a high point in his career, King suffered a serious injury to his right leg on March 23, 1985. This injury required a big surgery. It caused King to miss the entire 1985–86 season. At that time, no NBA player had ever fully recovered from such a major injury.

King worked very hard to get back into shape. He trained away from the public eye. Even though he averaged 22.7 points per game in his first six games back, he was not as explosive as before. The Knicks released him at the end of the 1987 season.

Playing for the Washington Bullets

King spent the 1987–88 season working his way back to being a top scorer with the Washington Bullets. That season, King, along with Moses Malone and Jeff Malone, formed a strong team. This was the only time Washington made the playoffs during King's time there. They lost a close series to the Detroit Pistons.

On November 3, 1990, King scored 44 points in a win against Michael Jordan and the Bulls. This was the most points King had scored since his big knee injury in 1985. On December 29, he scored a season-high 52 points against the Denver Nuggets. This was the most points a Washington player had scored since the team moved from Baltimore in 1972. That season, King was chosen for his fourth All-Star team.

From 1989 to 1991, King averaged over 20 points in three seasons in a row. His scoring average reached its highest at 28.4 points per game in 1991, when he was 34 years old. This included ten games where King scored more than 40 points.

Return to the New Jersey Nets

After taking a year and a half off due to another knee injury, King returned to play for the New Jersey Nets. He played 32 games at the end of the 1992–93 season. However, his knee problems forced him to retire from the NBA for good.

NBA Career Statistics

King finished his career with 19,655 points in 874 games. This gave him an average of 22.5 points per game. At the time he retired, he was number 16 on the all-time NBA scoring list.

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1977–78	New Jersey	79	—	39.1	.479	—	.677	9.5	2.4	1.5	.5	24.2
1978–79	New Jersey	82	—	34.9	.522	—	.564	8.2	3.6	1.4	.5	21.6
1979–80	Utah	19	—	22.1	.518	—	.540	4.6	2.7	.4	.2	9.3
1980–81	Golden State	81	—	36.0	.588	.333	.703	6.8	3.5	.9	.4	21.9
1981–82	Golden State	79	77	36.2	.566	.200	.705	5.9	3.6	1.0	.3	23.2
1982–83	New York	68	68	32.5	.528	.000	.722	4.8	2.9	1.3	.2	21.9
1983–84	New York	77	76	34.6	.572	.000	.779	5.1	2.1	1.0	.2	26.3
1984–85	New York	55	55	37.5	.530	.100	.772	5.8	3.7	1.3	.3	32.9*
1986–87	New York	6	4	35.7	.495	—	.744	5.3	3.2	.3	.0	22.7
1987–88	Washington	69	38	29.6	.501	.167	.762	4.1	2.8	.7	.1	17.2
1988–89	Washington	81	81	31.6	.477	.167	.819	4.7	3.6	.8	.2	20.7
1989–90	Washington	82	82	32.8	.487	.130	.803	4.9	4.6	.6	.1	22.4
1990–91	Washington	64	64	37.5	.472	.216	.790	5.0	4.6	.9	.3	28.4
1992–93	New Jersey	32	2	13.4	.514	.286	.684	2.4	.6	.3	.1	7.0
Career		874	547	33.7	.518	.172	.730	5.8	3.3	1.0	.3	22.5
All-Star		4	1	21.0	.474	—	.692	4.3	2.3	.8	.5	11.3

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1979	New Jersey	2	—	40.5	.500	—	.417	5.5	3.5	2.0	.0	26.0
1983	New York	6	—	30.7	.577	.333	.800	4.0	2.2	.3	.0	23.5
1984	New York	12	—	39.8	.574	.000	.756	6.2	3.0	1.2	.5	34.8
1988	Washington	5	4	33.6	.491	—	.810	2.2	1.8	.6	.0	13.8
1993	New Jersey	3	1	8.0	.571	—	—	.3	.0	.3	.0	2.7
Career		28	5	33.4	.559	.250	.729	4.3	2.3	.9	.2	24.5

Awards and Recognition

When he was 24, King won the NBA Comeback Player of the Year Award. He earned this award for his great play during the 1980–81 season with the Golden State Warriors. That year, King averaged 21.9 points per game. This was a big improvement after playing only 19 games the season before.

On February 13, 2007, Bernard King's jersey number 53 was retired. This happened at halftime of a Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game. The ceremony took place at Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. His jersey was the first number retired by the Tennessee Volunteers. Later, the number of Ernie Grunfeld, King's former teammate, was also retired. The Tennessee men's basketball team from the late 1970s was known as the "Ernie and Bernie Show." Many people consider this time the best era for UT men's basketball.

During the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, basketball experts from the TNT network chose Bernard King. They named him as one of the "Next 10" nominees. This was a list of 10 unofficial additions to the NBA's 50 greatest players list. It was done to celebrate the NBA's 60th anniversary.

In 2013, Bernard King was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted alongside other basketball legends like Rick Pitino and Gary Payton.

Broadcasting Career

Bernard King now works as a part-time broadcaster for NBA TV. He also works for the MSG Network. Sometimes, he fills in as a color commentator when Walt Frazier is away.

Acting Career

King appeared in an episode of the TV show Miami Vice. He played Matt Ferguson, a basketball star for a made-up team called the Florida Sunblazers. He also appeared in the 1979 movie Fast Break.